Thanksgiving - Vegetable au Gratin (aka Joan's Corn Dish)

This has become one of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes, ever since Joan started making it.  It's probably the dish I miss most (along with Mom's cornbread stuffing and Granny's rolls.  And Jenny's pumpkin cheesecake....) when we eat Thanksgiving out.  It is full of corn and cheese, and a couple of other veggies, hence the name Vegetable au Gratin, I suppose.  It's Joan's corn dish to me!

Melt 1/4 cup butter.  Add 3/4 cup green pepper cut into large squares (I use smaller pieces) and 1 garlic clove, crushed.  Cook until pepper is slightly tender.  Stir in 1/4 cup flour (Joan says she takes the pepper out of the pan since it can be hard to stir in the flour; I left it in), 2/3 cup milk, 3/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp pepper, pinches of dried basil and oregano, and a pinch of sugar.  Heat and stir until sauce starts to thicken.  Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (Joan recommends -- as do I - sharp cheddar) until melted.  Add 1 cup drained tomatoes (use crushed and drain very well, pressing the liquid out to avoid a runny sauce.  I saved the juices and added a little in).  Heat until thickened again.  Add a 9 oz package of frozen corn that has been thawed (Joan suggests dumping the frozen corn in a dish towel over a colander to make sure it's dry) and 1 lb can of whole onions, drained (I used jarred pearl onions from Whole Foods).

Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheddar cheese on top.  Bake uncovered in a 350 oven for about 30 minutes or until heated through with cheese melted.

If prepared ahead, refrigerate but return to room temp. before baking.

Makes 6 generous servings.

-- Kate